Efke 25

**Two23** · 2-Jun-2016, 05:33

I have a stash of Efke 25, 4x5. I mostly use it with my old Petzvals. There will be some Civil War re-enactor guys this weekend that I want to photo using an 1862 Voigtlander. I'll use my hand in a glove as the "shutter." I generally have to use about 5 stops or so of ND filters to get exposure times slow enough. How low can I rate the Efke film and still get good results? I'm trying to eliminate some ND filters (I usually have to stack two, maybe three.)

Kent in SD

**goamules** · 2-Jun-2016, 08:20

Nice Kent!

**Drew Wiley** · 2-Jun-2016, 09:06

It's orthopan, so don't use a deep red 29 filter to slow it down. What would do nice for a retro look would be a 47B deep blue filter. That will slow it four full stops and give the look of 19thC blue-sensitive films with open shadows and deepened reds and greens. But blue uniforms will obviously come out lighter. I'd still rate it at 25, with only modest correction for reciprocity. You need to experiment a bit not to overexpose this film. It will dig way down into the shadows anyway. It's the
risk of highlights shouldering off that would worry me. So at these exposure times I'm probably try compensating only half a stop (or 1.5X metering time).

**SergeiR** · 2-Jun-2016, 10:34

Thats Efke 50, metered for 50

.. I can't remember if i got 25 shots laying around, but if i remember right (and i typically do) - i just rated it at 25 as on the box.

Evenings-1 by Sergei Rodionov, on Flickr

**IanG** · 2-Jun-2016, 11:44

Note that the speed in the name is the Tungsten light speed, the daylight speed is about a stop faster, this has always been the case for the EFKE (and previously Adox-Schleussner) made films. I've used EFKE/Adox 25 at 50EI since the 1970's. Over exposure should be avoided for maximum quality.

I'd stick with your ND filter.

Ian

**Two23** · 2-Jun-2016, 18:14

Thanks. I'll stick with the ND filters. I also do add a 2-stop blue filter.

Kent in SD

**Jac@stafford.net** · 2-Jun-2016, 18:32

The emulsions of the era were also very grainy and can be seen even with contact prints of 8x10", but I'm sure the subjects today will appreciate the greater gradation of fine-grain.
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